Our DIY workshops are back! We are excited to be running our next series of workshops at The Finders Keepers Sydney on 8th, 9th and 10th May.

We have teamed up with Fiona Michelon of Craft Hunter and Rin Dawson of Papered Thoughts to present three amazing workshops to get you creating and crafting. Here’s what’s on offer!

Fabric Wall Hanging with Fiona of Craft Hunter

Get creative with your very own fabric wall hanging. A brilliant addition to blank walls needing a splash of awesome!

All tools and materials supplied.

Cost: $35 per person

Venue: The Finders Keepers Sydney, Australian Technology Park

Sessions:

• Friday 8th May 2015, 6.30pm – 7.30pm
• Saturday 9th May 2015, 12.30pm – 1.30pm
• Sunday 10th May 2015, 12.30pm – 1.30pm

>> Click here to book for the Fabric Wall Hanging Workshop.

Selfie Softie with Sarah of Dailylike

Create a selfie of the soft cushie kind! Make yourself or delight a special someone with a miniature version of themselves!

All tools and materials supplied.

Cost: $35 per person

Venue: The Finders Keepers Sydney, Australian Technology Park

Sessions:

• Saturday 9th May 2015, 2.30pm – 3.30pm
• Sunday 10th May 2015, 2.30pm – 3.30pm

>> Click here to book for the Selfie Softie Workshop.

Surprise Garland with Rin of Papered Thoughts

Make a cute surprise garland for someone extra special. Hmmm… maybe Mum for Mothers’ Day? Or your bestie’s birthday is coming up? In any case, get ready for paper-craft heaven!

All tools and materials supplied.

Cost: $35 per person

Venue: The Finders Keepers Sydney, Australian Technology Park

Sessions:

• Friday 8th May 2015, 8.30pm – 9.30pm
• Saturday 9th May 2015, 10.30am – 11.30am
• Sunday 10th May 2015, 10.30am – 11.30am

>> Click here to book for the Surprise Garland Workshop.

Pop-up Shop with Dailylike and The Chaos Club

In addition to our workshops we will also have an amazing pop-up shop of Dailylike and The Chaos Club goodies, so make sure you visit for a good dose of creativity and craft.

So with all that exciting news said, pop over here to book yourself in, and you better make it quick as spaces are limited!

We hope you can join us!

Skill level
Beginner

Supplies needed:
– 1 x set of Fabric Tape in Afresh
– 1 x set of Fabric Stickers in Afresh
– 1 x Beige Twine
– 1 x Dailylike Lace DL06
– Fresh flowers
– Fabric napkins
– Small gift boxes
– Hole punch
– Metal napkin rings (optional)
– Pencil and Scissors

I love the idea of staying away from the traditional Christmas styles and just making a beautiful, homely entertaining space that feels really special for the festive season. With a combo of soft greens, fabric textures and fresh flowers you can make a space that still has a Christmas vibe, but will have your guests talking about your dinner party for years to come.

The trick is to choose just a few colours or patterns and stick with just those in a variety of applications. The end result will look really interesting but still uniformed thanks to the repeated colour scheme.

Mix a combo of fresh flowers and fake fabric leaves for a really pretty look.

Instructions:

Step 1
Sketch out some leaf shapes onto the back of your green fabric sticker and cut them out with scissors. For these green leaves, leave a tab shape that’s approx. 1cm at the bottom of the leaf. Repeat these steps with some extra leaves in the floral and grid pattern stickers too but just cut these with a rounded bottom. Punch a hole in the bottom of these coloured leaves.

Step 2
Use your Fabric Tape to decorate some plain linen napkins. Cut some mini triangles to decorate the bottom, and for others just apply a solid strip of tape across the bottom.
It can look really beautiful with mixed patterns in a similar colour scheme so have fun with it!

Step 3
Now it’s time to put your napkin rings together. I tried two different styles:

– Style A
Cut some fresh flowers and tie them together with your twine leaving 15cm of twine either side of the knot. Use this twine to tie your napkin in the middle.
Remove the backing area of the tab shape on your green leaves and stick these to place amongst your flowers.
Tie a piece of lace around the twine too and finish with a simple knot.

– Style B
Place your metal napkin ring onto your napkin. Cut some fresh flowers and tuck them in behind the napkin ring.
Remove the backing area of the tab shape on your green leaves and stick these to place amongst your flowers.

Step 4
Use your remaining fabric stickers to decorate some mini gift boxes and use them as a favour box / place card.
The fabric stickers come with a brown paper backing which you can actually use to create little name tags. Punch a hole in the top and thread it on some twine along with your coloured leaves and tie it around your gift box.

Step 5
Use the twine to tie a pretty bow around your cutlery too.

This project was created by Dailylike Design Team member Fiona Michelon of Craft Hunter.

Skill Level
Easy

1. Pinwheel Gift Wrap

Spruce up your gift wrap with a lovely paper pinwheel with a button detail in the centre. Would also look fab taped to the front of a card!

Supplies needed:
1 pack of First Love Fabric Buttons
1 Twine Bobbin in Hot Pink
Square piece of paper for your pinwheel
Sticky tape
Ruler
Pencil
Scissors or Xacto knife

How to:

Cut out a square piece of paper and put your ruler diagonally across the corners. Draw a line around ¾ of the way in from the corner towards the centre then use scissors or an Xacto knife to cut these lines.

Bring one side of the corner up to the centre and fasten with sticky tape.

Now you want to do this with each corner, be sure to stick the same side of the triangle.

Finally, fasten your button in place with some glue or sticky tape.

Wrap your gift with some twine and pop your new pinwheel on top of the gift with a bit of tape and you’re done! Really cute gift wrap idea for someone special and only takes a couple of minutes. Would look great with 3 or so little pinwheels too.

2. Basket

This little basket is made from just a bit of scrap vinyl and is perfect for storing your craft goodies or jewellery. Add a personal touch with some coloured fabric tape on the inside too!

Supplies needed:
1 pack of Childhood Fabric Buttons
1 Stripe Beige Fabric Tape
Square piece of vinyl or leather (mine was 20x20cm)
Needle and thread (if using leather, opt for a thicker thread and needle)
Scissors or Xacto knife
Ruler
Pencil
Hole punch (if using leather)

How to:

The start of this basket is much the same as the pinwheel actually. Cut out a square piece of vinyl or leather. Mine was 20x20cm. Put your ruler diagonally across the corners and mark a 8cm line (or approx. half way to the centre from the corner) with your pencil from the corner.

Use scissors or an Xacto knife to cut the vinyl on the lines.

I also decided to put some stripes of fabric tape on the inside of the basket horizontally. If you do this too, pop it on before cutting the lines, or if you’re like me and decide to add it later just re-cut across your lines over the tape.

On one side of your square, fold 2 of the outer triangles in to meet in the middle.

Now you want to just sew it together with your needle and thread. You’ll see I chose to punch some tiny holes in the vinyl at this point to get the sewing started simply, but unless you’re using a thick leather, you could actually just go right ahead with your needle. Once you’ve secured the pieces in place you can work on adding your button with the thread.

Then repeat this with the triangles on the other side to create your basket.

Cut off the excess triangle pieces of fabric from inside the basket, but be careful not to cut too close to the corner or it will create a little gap. Give it 10mm or so wrap around.

3. Push Pins

This little project couldn’t be easier and is such a fun way to give your pin board an extra bit of character. Would also work well if you have a magnetic notice board – just glue some of your buttons to some plain magnets!

Supplies needed:
1 pack of White Night Fabric Buttons
Push pins
Hot glue gun
Pin board

How to:

Just heat up your hot glue gun and put a dab of glue onto a thumbtack. Quickly place your button straight onto the tack and hold in place for a minute. All done and ready to use on your favourite pin board!

This project was created by Dailylike Design Team member Fiona Michelon of Craft Hunter.

Whip up a happy ice cream themed garland and matching cocktail stirrers for your next party with just a few basic supplies. I especially love the textured finish of these fabric stickers, it adds that extra special element that paper can’t give.

Cute motifs like ice creams, popsicles and sprinkles are really on trend at the moment, which is great news for us adults as it means we can now enjoy a bit of cuteness all to ourselves! Of course it’s also a perfect theme for kids parties and you could substitute the cocktail stirrers for little cupcake toppers – everyone’s a winner!

Skill Level
Beginner

Materials:
1 x Fabric Sticker in Ice Cream – Sugar
1 x Fabric Sticker in Ice Cream – Macaron
1 x Fabric Sticker in Ice Cream – Cone
1 x Masking Stickers in Ice Cream
1 x Fabric Tape in Stripe – Beige
1 x Twine in Beige
Skewer sticks
Scissors
Pencil
Hole punch
Piece of plain paper

On the piece of plain paper, sketch out your ice cream design and cut out the individual pieces.

Use this as your template to trace onto the back of your fabric stickers then cut them out. (Don’t forget to trace your design in reverse so that it is the right way when you turn it around!)

The fabric stickers come with a piece of white cardboard in the packet which you can use as a backing for your garland (love that – hoorah for using leftovers!) Place your cut fabric stickers onto the cardboard and then cut around them.

I chose to just go one-sided as they’ll be hung against a wall but you could definitely do both sides if you wanted it hung across a room.

For the popsicles I used the Stripe Beige fabric tape for the little sticks.

Punch two holes in the top of each ice cream, about 1cm apart then just thread your twine through them all. Remember to leave enough twine either side for hanging! Secure on the back with a bit of the fabric tape.

For the cocktail stirrers (or cupcake toppers if making for kiddies!), simply pop a few of the sticker dots onto some skewer sticks. Put them on either side of the stick so they form a little double-sided sticker. Use the left over dots to decorate your glasses or coasters.

This project was created by Dailylike Design Team member Fiona Michelon of Craft Hunter.

Her project style – beautiful, yet simple and achievable. We love it and we’re itching to see what she brings us for her her very first project. Can’t wait that long? Make sure you check out Fiona’s blog for (in her words) lots of happy DIY ideas and creative inspo. There’s lot of goodness already waiting to be made.

And finally – in true new-design-team-member style, we got busy interviewing Fiona so we could bring you all the goss on our latest addition.  Read on as Fiona gives us some insight into what lead her down the creative path and what’s in store for the creative playground that is Craft Hunter.

What is your favourite part about crafting?
Shopping for supplies! I love finding new boutique paper stores or spending hours in Spotlight buying supplies I may never use. It’s also the downtime that crafting provides that I love. By day I’m also the director of PR site Press Loft which keeps me nice and busy so crafting is a chance to step away from the computers and phones and get creative with my hands. Making stuff soothes the soul (unless it’s a DIY which requires power tools, then it’s just down-right exhilarating!)

What is your first or favourite childhood memory of getting crafty?
I was always a creative kid and had a crack at things like cross stitch and knitting here and there (much to my Nanna’s excitement) but, just like now days, it was always the quick and easy projects that I enjoyed the most – like painting up a plaster statue or making collages for my school book covers. I always loved decorating and re-arranging my room too – I’m pretty sure we painted my bedroom at least 3 times before I was 12 including a delightful shade of dark aqua blue (my poor parents)

How would you describe your crafting style?
I’m definitely drawn to modern, trend-led designs, usually with lots of happy colour and geometric shapes. I especially love making things for my own home lately, or decorations for parties. I’m all about simple DIY projects that anyone can achieve, whether they consider themselves to be crafty or not.

Where would we likely find you in your downtime?
Trawling through op shops or markets, brunching by the water, taking photos or going for long drives with my lover to escape the city noise.

What is your most inspiring quote?
Always be yourself, unless you can be a unicorn then always be a unicorn.

What’s next? Any exciting plans in the pipeline for 2014 and beyond?
Who knows! Since starting my blog just late last year it’s been a bit of a crazy whirlwind full of amazing creative opportunities. I hope to continue contributing for a few magazines, grow Craft Hunter, hone my photography skills and just see where this happy journey takes me. I recently moved out with my boyfriend too so I’m really excited to decorate our new apartment with handmade and up-cycled pieces.

Want more Craft Hunter action?  Follow Fiona’s creative adventures on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.